Summary: Google wants to bring Chromecast to a number of other countries in 2014, and make casting a standard that works on multiple devices with thousands of apps.

-- Google landed a bit of a coup with Chromecast this year, launching a device that no one saw coming but that has proven to be very popular. Next year, the company plans to take Chromecast even further by bringing it to a number of international markets, opening up the SDK to make hundreds (if not thousands) of apps Chromecast-compatible, and partnering with consumer electronics companies to bring cast functionality to other devices.

Making Chromecast more widely available around the globe is one of the company's biggest goals for the device in the coming year, said Google VP of Product Management Mario Queiroz in an interview with Gigaom this week. "We are going to be launching in a number of international markets," he said, adding that people are going to be "pleasantly surprised" by the scope of this international expansion.

One reason for this fast move into other countries is that Google wants to encourage publishers in those markets to make their apps Chromecast-compatible, which is part of a bigger goal to bring as many apps as possible to the device. "There will be an expectation from consumers that any and every app will be 'castable,'" Queiroz said.